Conveyor systems comprising separate surfaces for supporting articles are commonly known from the prior art and a number of systems have been described.
A conveyor system comprising a chain of trucks on which primary supporting surfaces are tiltably mounted is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,231,066. The trucks are interconnected with plates on each of which two secondary supporting surfaces are pivotally mounted and each secondary supporting surface overlaps one primary surface. The primary supporting surfaces are individually tiltable whereby the secondary surface at each end of the primary surface is also tilted so as to discharge an article that may be supported by the three surfaces in question.
Another conveyor system comprising a number of supporting platforms that fits closely to each other and where the platforms are tiltable is disclosed in EP 0 753 474 A1. The platforms are overlapping two and two, and the two overlapping platforms may pivot relatively to each other about a vertical axis. The supports connecting the platforms to the transport means of the conveyor are arranged in spaced-apart groups of two supports disposed near each other, whereby the platforms connected to the supports of a given group extend from the respective supports in a direction away from each other, and whereby the end of a platform connected to the support of the adjacent group is overlapped by the end of a platform connected to the support of the given group. Platforms connected to the support of one group are arranged pivotally about a common horizontal pivot pin and screens are extending downwards from the adjacent ends of the platforms connected to the supports of the same group.